Three elected offices in Moniteau County will be decided in the Aug. 4 primary election, with only Republican candidates filing to run for each open position.
1st District Commissioner
Two Republicans - Noland Porter and Clint Hoellering - are seeking election as Moniteau County's District 1 commissioner.
The winner of the Republican primary election Aug. 4 will run unopposed in November for a four-year term.
Porter, who currently serves as commissioner, is a Moniteau County native who owned Porter's Painting & Wallpapering for more than 30 years before passing the business on to his son. He graduated from Jamestown C-1 High School.
"As a small business owner, I know the challenges that small businesses face," Porter said. "Small businesses must be more resourceful and work harder to be successful. The same is true of rural communities. If re-elected District 1 commissioner, I will use these same small-business skills and work ethic when handling the county's affairs."
With the recent passage of Proposition P in June's municipal election, Porter said he hopes to help guide spending of the new sales tax dollars to improve and maintain the county's roads and bridges.
"We're living in a different time; there is more traffic and heavier equipment driving on our roads," Porter said in regard to how road improvements should commence. "Using white rock for our gravel roads would solve a lot of the problems we are currently having and would lead to less maintenance and further cost saving across the board."
Hoellering, who graduated from Nichols Career Center, has spent more than 25 years in farming, rock/gravel and concrete work.
"I have had numerous experiences of repairing the roads, brush hogging, cutting brush, fixing ditches and trimming limbs just to simply get our equipment down roadways," he said. "Being a farmer and independent contractor throughout my life, I understand the meaning of making dollars stretch and how to budget and, if elected, I plan to use those budgeting skills to best serve our community."
He said he would use a conservative approach to budgeting without raising taxes.
2nd District Associate Commissioner
Three Republican candidates - Greg Robinson, Rick Messerli and Wesley Kirchner - are seeking election as Moniteau County's District 2 associate commissioner.
The winner of the Republican primary election Aug. 4 will run unopposed in November for a four-year term.
Robinson, who currently serves as the county's District 2 associate commissioner, owned California Lanes for 27 years, then worked for Moniteau County Road and Bridge for eight years and road construction companies for another three years.
"My goals are to serve the residents of Moniteau County to the best of my ability using my experience and knowledge I've gained in the past four years, and to help our county through challenging economic times, bridging the gap one step at a time," Robinson said.
He has lived in Moniteau County for 41 years.
Messerli's professional experience includes owning a construction company and working at Tipton Correctional Center, where he was a member of the committee charged with recommending procedural changes to improve the corrections system. He also was a school board member and a member of the Moniteau County Senate Bill 40 Board.
"There are a few issues that are important to me in running for this position," he said. "For road and bridge: We need more gravel and culvert pipes; we need to fix problems the first time; we need to develop a plan for improving the roads and then implement it; and we need to address equipment by fixing or replacing failing equipment and eliminating underutilized equipment. Building operations, especially cleaning, are important at any time, but due to the pandemic, it is very important to clean thoroughly and regularly."
Kirchner, who has lived in Moniteau County for 15 years, has been employed with Moniteau County Road and Bridge on the north side of the county for the past three years. He previously spent five years as a foreman for Hentges Tree Service and was a lead carpenter for A-APAC for seven years.
Kirchner said he is running for this position to work with the community and get the roads in the shape they need to be to handle the amount of traffic using them and so they can handle the larger equipment and heavier trucks that travel them.
Assessor
Two Republican candidates - Bill Figgins and Marcy Oerly - are seeking election to become Moniteau County's assessor.
The winner of the Republican primary election Aug. 4 will run unopposed in November for a four-year term.
Figgins, who grew up in Clarksburg and spent 20 years in the U.S. Air Force, served as interim Moniteau County assessor from January through March of this year.
"During this time, I interviewed, hired and trained all new staff in the assessor's office," he said. "I also oversaw the majority of the 2020 personal property assessment process; during the first three months of this year, with all new staff, we were able to receive, scan, process and update nearly 6,000 returned assessment forms in a timely manner."
He said a priority for the Assessor's Office should be ensuring fair assessments for all residents.
"Some areas of the county have not had house/property values reviewed for several years; land values that should be the same from property to property are not due to insufficient reviews," Figgins said. "Houses depreciate over time, leading to lower tax assessments, while land values continue to increase; these values must be entered into the software program manually, and over time some have been changed while others have not."
Figgins has a bachelor's degree in computer information systems from Chapman University in California and a master's degree in education from the University of Missouri.
Oerly was appointed by Gov. Mike Parson in March to serve as the county's current assessor.
"Since taking office, I am proud of the accomplishments that have been made in the last three and half months," she said. "Throughout the COVID-19 shutdown, the Assessor's Office remained staffed and helped customers by phone, email and faxes. To better serve the needs of the community, the office is now open over the noon hour so those that have limited time can conduct business over their lunch period."
She noted the office now provides a free online Geographic Information System service that offers an aerial view of land parcels in the county with information about each parcel.
"Our office is also reviewing each personal property and real estate record to add physical addresses to our database," Oerly said. "With this information, we are ensuring the correct tax levies are being applied to each record."
Oerly, who has lived in Moniteau County for 30 years, recently retired from employment with the state of Missouri, where she helped administer state and federal programs. She has a bachelor's degree in agriculture technology/animal science from the University of Central Missouri.